Cinereous Ground-Tyrant

Plump, rock-loving shorebird with slightly droopy bill. Most often seen in nonbreeding plumage, which is fairly dark gray with spotted underparts. Namesake purple sheen (mostly on back, scapulars, and tertials) only visible at close distance in good light. Legs and base of bill usually bright orange. Messy-looking breeding plumage is darker and more heavily marked, with limited rusty tones on upperparts. Largely inaccessible breeding range on high Arctic tundra; most often seen in northern Europe, Spitsbergen, and Iceland. Winters at slightly lower latitudes, regularly south to the mid-Atlantic region in North America and the Iberian Peninsula in Europe; found in flocks on rocky coastlines and jetties pounded by heavy surf.

Rare, endangered, and poorly known hummingbird restricted to mangroves and adjacent scrubby areas along the Colombian coast. Male has sapphire underparts extending from throat all the way to belly, and lacks the distinct hood typical of the more common Sapphire-throated Hummingbird. Female’s plumage is not known with certainty, but likely resembles female Sapphire-throated Hummingbird, which has white central underparts bordered by green flanks, and white tail tips.

Utterly unmistakable inhabitant of waterside and riverine lowland evergreen forests, mangroves, and plantations. Midnight black with long white slashes on each wing, wine-red underparts, and a black chinstrap. Bulbous bill is glowingly powder-blue with warm tinges of orange and greenish-yellow. During the breeding season, the pendulous nests of this species can be quite obvious, hanging over forested waterways. Voice is nasal and generally unpleasant-sounding, consisting of odd low mechanical rasps.